It’s an early installment of TWII this week. Most of the awesome shows (to me) seem to be tonight through Thursday.

First up we’ve got The Fresh & Onlyswho are currently on tour with Clinic. They both play tonight at Bowery Ballroom with Girls at Dawn opening. I like Clinic just fine — their new album Bubblegum is good — but we’re seeing the Fresh & Onlys still riding a wave of creativity/prolificasy that has been going strong for almost two years. The band’s new album, Play it Strange, is maybe their best yet, definitely their most sonically advanced. And live, they always seem to be on. They were great at the Northside Fest back in May. I know I write about them a lot, but they really are tops. Go see them!

There was supposed to be a second Clinic/F&Os show Wednesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg but that ended up getting canceled, so now The Fresh & Onlys will play Shea Stadium instead (11/3), sharing the bill with fellow San Franciscans The Royal Baths, plus X-Ray Eyeballs and Dutch Treat. The Fresh & Onlys and Royal Baths will also play Vassar on Thursday (11/4).

I will be speeding off to Shea Stadium on Wednesday after seeing The Dears at Knitting Factory, the first their two-night stay previewing their new, yet-to-be-titled album which won’t be out till next year. (Tickets are available for Wednesday and Thursday.) As an occasional Dears-obsessive (2004 – 2005 I wouldn’t shut up about them) I’m pretty excited about these shows, especially now that guitarist and O-Face master Patrick Krief is back in the band, as well as former members Rob Benvie and Roberto Arquilla. Drummer George Donosso [now in the High Dials] is still missed – we’ll see how new member Jeff Luciani does on the kit.

The Dears are masters of epic, anthemic songs and I’m psyched to get to hear a whole new album in this way for the first time. And if this sounds a little daunting, reviews of other shows in Montreal and Toronto where they’ve been doing the same thing have said they’re encoring with a set of favorites. And when the band is on, they can make the hair on the back of your neck stand at attention. Here’s hoping we get a little of that bristly excitement this time. You can check out live footage of new single “Omega Dog” at the bottom of this post.

The Duke Spirit

Also mid week: Bluesy London rock band The Duke Spirit are here playing a one-off show at the now-reopened Santos Party House on Wednesday (11/03) where five bucks gets you in the door. I was a big fan of The Duke Spirit’s 2008 album, Neptune, which matched big pop hooks with the band’s already proven muscle. The band have a new EP, Kusama, out in December — you can download “Everybody’s Under Your Spell” from their website if you give them your email address — and a new album in February 2011.

The Duke Spirit are definitely worth seeing live. All eyes tend to be on powerhouse vocalist Leila Moss, who has an undeniable stage presence and can play mean harmonica too. And for five bucks it’s kind of a no-brainer.

There’s a bit of that hurdy-gurdy folky seaside sound to the group — they’re recording their new record on a ship, apparently — and their debut album is pretty good if you like Pentangle, Delta blues, Love and The Doors all mixed together in a bucket. Erland Cooper is a talented songwriter, and I’m told a captivating live performer, and managed to recruit guitarist Simon Tong (formerly of The Verve, Blur and The Good, The Bad and The Queen) into his band. Will they be the next Mumford and Sons? I think they’re a little too odd for that (probably a good thing), and there’s no shortage of opportunities to see them. You can download an MP3 at the top of this post and there are a couple videos below.

French electropop artist Yelle is back with a new single,” La Musique,” on the Kitsune label and plays tonight at Highline Ballroom. Check out the video for the EP’s title track at the bottom of this post.

I don’t know much about Unsolved Mysteries (who does, I guess) but their video for “You Only Live Once” (watch is below) is pretty well done. Catchy song too. They play at Spike Hill tonight.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6

The Dandy Warhols are in town promoting their new compilation The Capitol Years, compiling the catchiest songs from these snarky rockers’ major label days. And they did have a bunch of catchy songs. They played the Bell House the night before (sold out) but you can still get tickets for this one at Webster Hall.

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